Charles Denton

Charles Denton (born 20 December 1937) is a British film and television producer and executive.

Early career He first worked for the BBC as a documentary filmmaker for five years from 1963, before he left the corporation to go freelance. Denton formed the short-lived production company Tempest Films with the actor David Swift and fellow documentary maker Richard Marquand which first involved John Pilger in working for television and Pilger's first television documentary The Quiet Mutiny, which Denton directed for Granada's World in Action series.

ATV, Central and Zenith At ATV he became successively deputy, then Head of Documentaries and later controller of programming. Not long after joining ATV he began the Pilger series which ran for five series between 1974 and 1977. John Pilger recalled: "Pilger was Charles' idea ... It was he who encouraged me to stand in front of the camera and say 'I'."

In 1981, he sacked Noele Gordon star of the soap opera Crossroads, a decision which antagonised viewers: "'I got excrement through the post'", he once said. As an act of revenge Gordon sang a 'love song' to him at the ATV End of Year Party. In the 1982 franchise round, the ITV Midlands broadcaster ATV turned into Central Independent Television, with Denton remaining in his post. He is an admirer of his former ATV boss, Lew Grade: "'Those times of meeting Lew in his office at 6.30am and watching him eat his grapefruit were among the happiest working days of my life ... ATV lost its franchise because it was too populist, but Lew would be sensationally right for ITV now.'"

In 1984 Denton left Central to become chief executive of Zenith Productions, which was initially financed by Central as one of its programme-making subsidiaries, and partly intended to become involved in the revival of the British film industry which had resulted from Channel Four's investment in films intended for a brief circuit release before a first television screening as part of its regular Film on 4 seasons. Zenith produced a number of successful feature film including Personal Services and Wish You Were Here.

He left the Head of Drama post in 1996, reportedly in protest at the changes carried through by the Corporation's Director General at the time, John Birt, with Denton complaining of Birt's "'Orwellian'" regime at the BBC. and worked for a time for BBC Films. He is a fellow of the Royal Television Society and of the Royal Society of Arts. He served on the Boards of the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council.

In the 2023 ITVX miniseries Nolly, which dramatised the life of Noele Gordon, Denton was portrayed by Tim Wallers.